JPWO2005041563A1 - mobile phone - Google Patents

Abstract

There was no easy-to-use user interface when using the camera function of a mobile phone as a digital magnifier. In a mobile phone having a camera function, the operation unit 1 is an operation unit for operating buttons and menus of the mobile phone, and operates a magnifying glass button and each menu. The camera control unit 2 controls the camera according to the processing content of the operation unit. The illumination unit 3 has a function of irradiating a photographed object and is automatically turned on when the magnifier mode is set. The zoom unit 4 performs settings for magnifying and photographing an object. The magnification is set according to each function including the setting of the magnifier mode. The close-up unit 5 performs processing for focusing on an object when close-up of a photographed object. For example, it is used when enlarging and displaying characters in a nearby document. The image storage unit 6 stores captured image data, and is also used when storing an image before enlargement. The image processing unit 7 performs various image processing. The image display unit 8 displays a captured image. When processing is added to the image by performing processing of each function, the processed image is displayed. Among these, the magnifying glass function that collectively performs control related to the illumination unit 3, the zoom unit 4, the close-up unit 5, the image storage unit 6, the image processing unit 7, and the camera control unit 2 A magnifying glass function processing unit Z integrated with the control unit 2a is provided.

Description

  The present invention relates to a mobile phone having a camera function that displays a captured image on a liquid crystal display screen and further has an enlarged display function for enlarging the captured image.

  Traditionally, magnifying glass has been used by elderly people and people with low vision as a tool to supplement it. Currently, mobile phones with a camera function are spreading, but the camera function is to take a picture of a person, landscape, text, or barcode, record or read it, and send it to another person by e-mail. The main purpose is that the liquid crystal display screen of the mobile phone is used only as a subject confirmation and operation menu display screen when photographing.

Recently, with the enhancement of camera functions of mobile phones, an enlargement function has been added to the liquid crystal display screen. A method of using this function and using a liquid crystal screen display as a magnifying glass is described in Patent Document 1. Patent Document 2 describes a method for enlarging and displaying information by various input methods regardless of a mobile phone.
JP 2002-374450 ("Mobile phone with digital camera") Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-359088 ("Plate Digital Magnifier System")

  The above-mentioned Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 mainly describe the device configuration, and for the interface, the cellular phone has a close-up function and illumination means, or a means for adjusting the enlargement ratio. It was only a degree. However, in a mobile phone having a relatively small display screen, it is desired to make the function of the magnifier more convenient.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a user interface that is easy to use when the camera function of a mobile phone is used as a digital magnifier.

  The present invention is a mobile phone having a photographing function and an image display function for displaying an image photographed by the photographing function, and an enlarged display function for enlarging a photographed image photographed by the photographing function, and a close-up photograph. Close-up function used for shooting, lighting function to illuminate the object to be photographed, full-image display function to display only the captured image without displaying icons and clocks displayed on the display screen, and captured image size A magnifying glass mode that integrates processing related to at least two or more functions selected from the group consisting of a photographed image size setting function that adjusts to a standby screen size.

  In a mobile phone having a camera function capable of displaying a photographed object on a liquid crystal screen, an operation unit for operating the buttons and menus of the mobile phone operates the magnifier mode button and each menu. Here, the camera control unit controls the camera according to the processing content of the operation unit. The illumination unit has a function of irradiating a photographed object, and is automatically turned on when the magnifier mode is set. The zoom unit performs settings for magnifying and photographing a photographed object. The enlargement ratio is set according to each function including the setting of the magnifying glass mode. The close-up unit performs a process of focusing on the object when close-up of the photographed object. For example, it is used when a written character is enlarged and displayed. The image storage unit can store a photographed image and save an image before enlargement. The image processing unit performs image processing. The image display unit displays a captured image. When the processing is added to the image by the processing of each function, the processed image is displayed.

  The present invention is also a mobile phone having a shooting function, an image display unit that displays an image shot by the shooting function, and an image storage unit that stores shot image data shot by the shooting function. An enlarged display function for enlarging a captured image captured by the imaging function and stored in the image storage unit, and displaying the enlarged image on the image display unit, a close-up function used for short-distance shooting, and an imaging target At least selected from the group consisting of: an illumination function that illuminates; a captured image full-screen display function that displays only captured images on the display screen; and a captured image size setting function that adjusts the captured image size to the standby screen size. A cellular phone characterized by comprising a magnifying glass mode that integrates processing related to two or more functions.

  In the mobile phone, the enlarged display function, the close-up function, the illumination function, the captured image full-screen display function, and the captured image size setting function, the enlarged display function and the close-up function. And the macro photo taken by the close-up function can be further enlarged and displayed. When the enlarged display function and the illumination function are integrated, an enlarged photograph can be taken brightly. If the enlarged display function and the captured image full-screen display function are integrated, an enlarged photograph can be displayed in a wide range. When the enlarged display function and the captured image size setting function are integrated, a wide range can be enlarged and displayed. Furthermore, when the enlarged display function, the close-up function, and the illumination function are integrated, a bright macro photograph taken by the close-up function and the illumination function can be further enlarged and displayed. As described above, it is convenient to automatically display the photograph desired by the user by combining the features of the respective functions.

  According to the present invention, a function called a magnifying glass mode is newly added to a mobile phone so that it can be used with a simple operation. In addition, since the user can specify the enlargement portion, the operability is improved. Furthermore, since the enlargement location is known to the user in advance, there is no time and effort for moving the camera again out of the area after enlargement display. Furthermore, since it is possible to obtain an indication of how far the image is displayed when it is enlarged, there is an advantage that the operation can be performed while visually confirming, and the operability is improved.

  In addition, by displaying the reference at the time of enlarged display, particularly when the text is read, it becomes easier to recognize the text, which helps when moving the display location. By enabling the movement by the operation key, the movement of the hand is reduced, the next area can be displayed reliably, and the accurate next area can be displayed. Furthermore, in addition to the enlarged display, there is an advantage that the visibility is further improved by emphasizing the boundaries of the display characters.

It is a block diagram which shows the functional module of the mobile telephone by embodiment of this invention. 1 is a front view of a mobile phone according to a first embodiment of the present invention. It is a front view at the time of displaying the display screen of the mobile telephone by the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart figure which shows the example of a process sequence which starts a magnifier function in the mobile telephone by the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of a display screen of the mobile telephone by the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the process example when the expansion desired position by the 2nd Embodiment of this invention exists in the edge of a liquid crystal screen. It is a figure which shows the example of the magnification rate table used for the magnifying glass function by the 2nd Embodiment of this invention, and 3rd Embodiment. It is a flowchart figure which shows the flow of a process by the magnifying glass function by the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of the screen in the mobile telephone by the 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart figure which shows the flow of the expansion function process by the 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of a display screen at the time of performing an enlargement function in the mobile telephone by the 4th Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the expansion function of the mobile telephone by the 5th Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart figure which shows the flow of a process of the magnifier function by the 5th Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the Sobel filter used for the expansion function of the mobile telephone by the 6th Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart figure which shows the example of the process sequence of the mobile telephone by embodiment of this invention.

  In this specification, the image includes characters and the like.

  The first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a mobile phone (hereinafter referred to as “mobile phone”) according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the mobile phone according to the present embodiment includes an operation unit 1, a camera control unit 2, an illumination unit 3, a zoom unit 4, a close-up unit 5, an image storage unit 6, and image processing. The unit 7 and the image display unit 8 are provided. In addition, although it has a communication function, a telephone call function, etc. like a normal mobile phone, it has no direct relationship with the camera function and is omitted in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 1, in a mobile phone having a camera function that can display a photographed object on a liquid crystal screen, an operation unit 1 is an operation unit for operating buttons and menus of the mobile phone, Operate buttons and menus. The camera control unit 2 controls the camera according to the processing content of the operation unit. The illumination unit 3 has a function of irradiating a photographed object and is automatically turned on when the magnifier mode is set. The zoom unit 4 performs settings for magnifying and photographing an object. In addition, a side distance function for automatically measuring the distance to the subject may be provided. The magnification is set according to each function including the setting of the magnifier mode. The close-up unit 5 performs processing for focusing on an object when close-up of a photographed object. For example, it is used when enlarging and displaying characters in a nearby document. The image storage unit 6 stores captured image data, and is also used when storing an image before enlargement. The image processing unit 7 performs various image processing. The image display unit 8 displays a captured image. When processing is added to the image by performing processing of each function, the processed image is displayed. Among these, the magnifying glass function that collectively performs control related to the illumination unit 3, the zoom unit 4, the close-up unit 5, the image storage unit 6, the image processing unit 7, and the camera control unit 2 The part integrated with the control unit 2a is referred to as a magnifying glass function processing unit Z, and is a part that performs processing related to functions of various magnifying glass modes described below.

  The mobile phone according to the present embodiment has an interface for using the enlargement display function of a mobile phone having a function of displaying a photographed image on a liquid crystal display screen and an enlargement display function of enlarging the photographed image as a magnifier. It is characterized by.

  If the enlargement function of the camera is used as it is, the size of the display screen is small and it is difficult to see the enlarged contents due to darkness or the like. Therefore, it is also possible to individually handle the close-up function, illumination function, captured image full-screen display function, captured image size setting function, and enlargement ratio change function that are generally provided for camera-equipped mobile phones. However, each time it is used as a magnifying glass, it is necessary to perform each of these settings.

  2 and 3 are front views of the mobile phone according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 2, in the mobile phone according to the present embodiment, a magnifier mode key 9 is newly provided in the operation unit. Instead of the magnifying glass mode key 9 or together with the magnifying glass mode key, the magnifying glass mode is displayed on the display screen and can be selected.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the flow of the magnifying glass mode setting process. The description will be made with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3 as appropriate. As shown in FIG. 4, in step S401, when the camera control unit 2 detects that the magnifying glass mode key 9 is pressed or the magnifying glass mode menu 10 is selected, the camera is activated (step S402). ). When the camera starts up, the captured image is enlarged (step S403), the close-up function is activated (step S404), the captured image size is set (step S405), the captured image is displayed on the entire LCD screen, and the icons and clock are hidden. A series of steps of automatically displaying (step S406) and turning on the illumination (step S407) is automatically performed. The enlargement / reduction of the image may be automatically performed based on the distance measuring function.

  With regard to the enlargement of the captured image, a default enlargement factor may be determined in advance, and the default enlargement factor may be used when the magnifier mode is set. The setting of the size of the photographed image is to set the size to a certain reference size, for example, to match the size of the photographed image with the standby screen size of the mobile phone. The above functions do not necessarily have to be executed continuously, but only when the target mobile phone has functions, or only functions that have been set in advance are integrated. A series of operations can be performed or a series of operations can be activated. Further, the execution order of the above-described functions is an example, and the execution order is variable. It should be noted that it is preferable to have a captured image full-screen display function that hides icons and clocks displayed on the display screen and displays only captured images.

  As described above, in the mobile phone according to the first embodiment of the present invention, by adding a new magnifier mode to the mobile phone, enlargement can be performed by a simple operation such as a single button operation or a selection operation on the menu screen. Mirror mode can be activated for convenient use.

  Next, a mobile phone according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

When performing enlarged display, the displayed area becomes narrower as the display is enlarged. For example, when characters are displayed, what was displayed on the display screen before 30 characters can be displayed only 10 characters after magnification. When enlarging the display, you want to make sure that the characters you want to enlarge are displayed on the screen without missing from the screen. The cellular phone according to the present embodiment is characterized in that a part to be enlarged is designated in advance and only a designated area is enlarged. For example, an enlarged display is performed after setting the center of the desired enlargement location. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a display before the liquid crystal display screen 11 of the mobile phone according to the present embodiment is enlarged and displayed in the horizontal direction. With respect to the display before the enlarged display shown in FIG. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a correspondence relationship between a preset enlargement ratio and a display area.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the flow of enlargement processing according to this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 8, in the enlarged display according to the present embodiment, when the desired enlargement position is designated (step S801), for example, the next stage enlargement rate is acquired from the enlargement rate table shown in FIG. 7 (step S802). ) And the display area size at the next enlargement ratio are acquired based on FIG. 8 (step S803). In the table shown in FIG. 8, usable enlargement ratios and area sizes that can be displayed during enlargement are defined. Next, the designated desired enlargement position is acquired (step S804), and when the enlargement is performed with the position as the center, it is determined whether or not the enlarged display area fits in the pre-enlargement image (step S805).

  If it is determined that the image will fit within the pre-enlargement image, the enlargement area is set with the enlargement desired position as the center (step S806). If it is determined that the image does not fit in the pre-enlargement image, a process including setting an area including the nearest end including the desired enlargement position 12 as an enlargement area 13 (area indicated by a broken line) as shown in FIG. Step S807). After the enlargement area is set, actual enlargement processing is performed (step S808). By performing the enlarged display, a series of processing ends.

  As described above, according to the mobile phone according to the present embodiment, since the enlargement ratio can be determined in advance, the processing relating to enlargement is simplified. Furthermore, since an enlarged portion can be designated on the screen, there is an advantage that operability related to enlarged display is improved.

  Next, a mobile phone according to a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. When enlargement display is performed on the mobile phone according to the present embodiment, the displayed area becomes narrower when enlargement processing is performed. This is the same as described in the second embodiment.

  When viewing the screen display, there are a request to enlarge the display by magnifying with a magnifying glass and a request to obtain a lot of information at once. To satisfy such a request, Usually, the enlargement process and the reduction process are repeated a plurality of times to perform a process of finding an enlargement ratio that satisfies this requirement.

  In the mobile phone according to the present embodiment, before enlargement, the display area after enlargement is shown as an “enlargement guide” 14, so that an appropriate enlargement ratio that has been found by a trial of repeating enlargement and reduction can be easily found. It is characterized by being able to operate reliably. The range of the guide can be arbitrarily enlarged or reduced as indicated by reference numerals 14a and 14b. That is, the enlargement function can display an enlarged display while changing the enlargement ratio over several stages. Therefore, the display area when enlarged by one stage may be shown, or the display areas of a plurality of stages may be shown. In that case, it is preferable that the display of the region is not disturbed when viewed as a magnifying glass by performing processing such as surrounding the display with a dotted line.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a display example when a plurality of enlargement guides 14 are displayed on the display screen 11. Based on this screen, it is possible to estimate the display area when the image is actually enlarged. FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a flow related to the display processing of the enlargement guide. As shown in FIG. 10, when the magnifying button is pressed and detected in the magnifying glass mode (step S1001), the magnification rate at that time is acquired (step S1002). Next, referring to the enlargement ratio table (FIG. 7), the next enlargement ratio and display area size are acquired (step S1003). Subsequently, an enlargement guide showing an image display area when the next enlargement ratio is executed is displayed (step S1004). When displaying multiple levels of enlargement guides, the same processing is repeated (step S1005). When a certain period of time has elapsed after displaying the enlarged guide (step S1006), the enlarged guide is erased (step S1007), and actual enlarged display is performed (step S1008).

  According to the mobile phone according to the present embodiment, since the enlarged portion can be estimated in advance, after the enlarged display, the actual enlarged display screen must be removed from the display area and processed again, or the camera must be moved. There is no need to lose time. In addition, there is an advantage that the operability is improved because it is possible to perform an operation while actually confirming the extent of display when the image is enlarged.

  Next, a mobile phone according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. When the enlarged display is performed on the mobile phone, since only a part of the photographed object is enlarged and displayed on the display screen, it is difficult to grasp a connection with a portion that is not enlarged. For example, when a sentence is enlarged and displayed, only the display screen area is enlarged and the upper, lower, left, and right sides of the document are not displayed. There is a sense that it is difficult to recognize both when the continuation of the sentence is read and when the display location is moved.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a display example on the mobile phone according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 11, a line is drawn on the screen, and a color is added to an area between the lines to form a “line guide” 15. By attaching the line guide, it becomes easy to grasp the sense of the line even on a small screen, and when moving the display screen to the next area, the moving operation is facilitated by moving the line guide based on the line guide. The row guide may be displayed simultaneously with the setting of the magnifying glass, as in the first embodiment, or may be displayed separately. In addition, it is preferable that the width (or height) of the line and color and the display color can be freely set and changed by operating buttons according to the display contents. FIG. 11 shows an example in which the background color is changed for each row, and there is an advantage that it is possible to easily grasp the interval between rows.

  Next, a mobile phone according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

When performing enlarged display on a mobile phone, the displayed area becomes narrower as the display is enlarged. This is as described in the second embodiment. When reading a sentence, the display area is narrowed, so it is necessary to move the hand holding the camera-equipped mobile phone little by little. In order to display an image appropriately on the display screen, fine adjustment is necessary, and this must be repeated many times, which makes the operation complicated. Therefore, in the mobile phone according to the present embodiment, an image before enlargement is saved, and the saved image before enlargement is used, so that some movement of the display position can be handled by operating the mobile phone key. It is characterized by that. FIG. 12 is a diagram for explaining operations on the mobile phone according to the present embodiment on the display screen. In FIG. 12, the code | symbol 18 shows the image area | region before expansion, and this content is memorize | stored in the image storage part 6 (FIG. 1). The area to be displayed next is determined by the moving direction 16 of the operation key of the cellular phone (for example, the code 17 is displayed in the right direction).

  Based on FIG. 13, a processing example of a procedure for moving the display position of the mobile phone according to the present embodiment will be described. As shown in FIG. 13, in the mobile phone according to the present embodiment, when entering the magnifying glass mode (step S1301), an image before enlargement is acquired (step S1302) and recorded in the memory (step S1303). Thereafter, enlarged display is performed as usual (step S1305). Subsequently, when the movement key is pressed (step S1306), the direction of movement is acquired (step S1307), and the displacement of the coordinates of the enlargement area relative to the display area before enlargement is calculated (step S1308). Thereafter, the coordinates of the enlarged display area are newly calculated according to the direction of movement (step S1309), and the screen after movement is displayed (step S1310).

  When the cellular phone according to the present embodiment is used, movement by an operation key is possible, so that the movement of the hand is reduced and the next area can be displayed reliably, and therefore the next area can be accurately displayed. .

  Next, a mobile phone according to a sixth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

By performing image processing for emphasizing a magnified character, it is possible to make it easier to see as a magnifying glass. In the situation where it is difficult to see the characters, there is a cause that the characters are difficult to read because the boundary between the characters and the background is not clear, in addition to the problems caused by the characters being small and difficult to see. For example, the character color may be similar to the background color, or the character outline may be blurred. In such a case, character recognition can be facilitated by adding image processing to the captured image in addition to processing for enlarging the character.

  Filters such as Sobel, Prewitt, Laplacian, etc. can be used as processing for emphasizing the boundary between a character and other parts. For example, a filter shown in FIG. 14 can be used as a Sobel filter. FIG. 14A shows a vertical edge detection filter, and FIG. 14B shows a horizontal edge detection filter. The Sobel filter shown in FIG. 14 is a filter having a weighting coefficient of 8 pixels around the drawing pixel as a center, and the value of the drawing pixel is calculated from the value of the surrounding pixel calculated based on these coefficients. This is one of the edge detection methods to be obtained. An application example of this filter is shown in FIG. FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing using a filter. As shown in FIG. 15, after the magnifying glass mode is detected (step S1501), when it is difficult to see the characters, the highlight mode is further detected (step S1502). S1503) may be performed. According to the present embodiment, in addition to the enlarged display, since the boundary of the display character is emphasized and displayed, there is an advantage that the visibility is further improved.

  The default value may be automatically changed based on the distance measurement result or the previous data, or a plurality of magnifier modes as a group of default values may be prepared. good.

  In the present embodiment, the enlarged display has been described. However, the same processing can be performed for reduced display as necessary. Various programs for causing a computer to execute the processing shown in the embodiment are also included in the scope of the present invention.

  The magnifying glass function of the present invention can be used for various portable terminals such as PDAs as well as cellular phones. Further, since the operability can be improved regardless of the size of the screen, it can be applied to various electronic devices such as a liquid crystal television.

Claims (10)

A mobile phone having a photographing function and an image display function for displaying an image photographed by the photographing function,
An enlarged display function for enlarging a photographed image photographed by the photographing function, a close-up function used for photographing a nearby object, a lighting function for illuminating an object to be photographed, and an icon or clock displayed on the display screen Processing related to at least two or more functions selected from the group consisting of a captured image full-screen display function that hides and displays only captured images, and a captured image size setting function that matches the captured image size to the standby screen size A cellular phone characterized by comprising a magnifying glass mode integrated with the The mobile phone according to claim 1, further comprising an enlarged display area designation function for designating a display area to be enlarged. The mobile phone according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising an enlarged range display function for displaying the enlarged display range in advance before enlargement processing. The mobile phone according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising an identification display function for identifying and displaying a certain area of the whole in the enlarged display. 5. The mobile phone according to claim 1, further comprising an enlarged display area changing function for changing an area to be enlarged and displayed by operating a direction key. The mobile phone according to claim 1, further comprising a highlight processing function for conspicuously displaying an enlarged image. A mobile phone having a photographing function and an image display function for displaying an image photographed by the photographing function,
An enlargement display function for enlarging a photographed image photographed by the photographing function, and an enlargement ratio storage section for storing a preset enlargement ratio, and the image at an enlargement ratio stored in the enlargement ratio storage section A mobile phone comprising a magnifying glass mode having a magnifying display control unit for magnifying an image. An enlarged display method in a mobile phone having a photographing function and an image display function for displaying an image photographed by the photographing function,
An enlarged display function for enlarging a photographed image photographed by the photographing function, a close-up function used for photographing a nearby object, a lighting function for illuminating an object to be photographed, and an icon or clock displayed on the display screen A series of processes related to at least two or more functions selected from a captured image full-screen display function that displays only a captured image without display, and a captured image size setting function that matches the captured image size with the standby screen size An enlarged display method comprising a step of executing as processing. A program for causing a computer to execute the steps according to claim 8. A mobile phone having a shooting function, an image display unit that displays an image shot by the shooting function, and an image storage unit that stores shot image data shot by the shooting function,
Illuminates a subject to be photographed, an enlargement display function for enlarging a photographed image photographed by the photographing function and stored in the image storage unit and displaying the magnified image on the image display unit, a close-up function used for short-distance photographing, and At least two selected from the group consisting of an illumination function, a captured image full-screen display function that displays only captured images on the display screen, and a captured image size setting function that adjusts the captured image size to the standby screen size A cellular phone characterized by comprising a magnifying glass mode in which processing related to the above functions is integrated.

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